


In Other Words, Hold My Hand

by Raveluv



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22186936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raveluv/pseuds/Raveluv
Summary: Stargazing and waltzing on the lake.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12
Collections: For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	In Other Words, Hold My Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MBlair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MBlair/gifts).



> Oneshot...  
> Liberal use of Star Wars references
> 
> Also thanks MBlair for this prompt, I don't know how fluffy this ended up in the end.

When the night descended onto Takadona’s countryside, glowing lights began to dot the outskirts of the lake. Looking at it from far away it looked like fireflies encompassing the lake and the silvery full moon casts its face on the surface of the water.

As the night wore on the lights, one-by-one, slowly dipped the area into darkness until it was only the moon and one lonely light left. That light belonged to a lakeside house owned by the Organa-Solo family and while most of its inhabitants were asleep, Rey was the only one awake. 

Rey is normally on top of her assignments but a lot of things have happened in her personal life that required her to delay her thesis project for a while. The Council only gave her this one deadline extension only because of excruciating circumstances of last year. 

Needless to say, last year had been eventful. When she needed to clock in some hours as a research assistant, Professor Kenobi personally recommended her to Dr Organa-Solo who in turn placed her with Dr Ren and his project on Dark Energy. 

A factor that was unknown to the world of academia was that Dr Ren was actually Ben Solo, the son of two renowned people. When Rey first learned about this she was stumped but after going through countless hours researching with Ben and attending college board meetings, she began to understand why Ben took on the name of Kylo Ren. 

She had no family legacy, heck she grew up in an orphanage and fought tooth and nail to get to where she is ever since she became inspired by the pilot Holdo’s space mission. She was her own person but Ben didn’t have such a luxury. Ben carried an immense legacy on his shoulders with two family lines deeply involved in all things space and his own father’s inventive genius. When you have such a background and are being dragged to sponsor events and meetings, people will only see you for your family. Not the person. Perhaps that was why Ben eagerly went to Dr Snoke. 

However, when Ben was about to submit his thesis project he found out that Dr Snoke had been using him all along. The doctor had used Ben’s undergraduate essay on Dark Energy and submitted it as his own. Then, whether it was an act of arrogance or stupidity, Ben decided to submit his project anyway. These were the circumstances where Rey first met Ben.

Endless hours of research.

Bleary eyes looking over data.

Attending plagiarism court dates.

Most of these things Rey couldn’t remember because she wasn’t used to staying up so late. Therefore, she would succumb to sleep easily and right in the middle of summarising the data to boot. Earlier in their acquaintanceship, Ben used to yell at her for falling asleep and the relationship had been strained. However, the more time they spent with each other and the more they talked about things that weren’t project related, the better the relationship became. 

Instead of yelling and berating, Rey would just wake up with a blanket around her shoulders and Ben looking over what she wrote before she fell asleep. To this day Rey would tease him that he fell in love with her researching style.

Now the tables have turned. It is now Rey’s turn to do an all-nighter and Ben is sound asleep,

‘And I hope the Force will be kind to me like it has been to Ben’ thought Rey as Dr Snoke received his comeuppance.

Despite Dr Snoke being well versed in the subject of Dark Energy, the true author will always shine through. That and using your grandfather’s experimentation notes. Ben won the case and his research and findings brought a scientific breakthrough on the subject. Rey hopes her project will also do the same.

While Ben's topic was centred around Dark Energy, Rey’s was the opposite. It was about stars and luminosity. She believed that if she can get the right data she can contribute to the growing research on the probability of space travel. A probability that was increasingly becoming a possibility, courtesy of Cloud City Ltd.

Currently, Rey was musing over the calculations of the Coruscant's star’s luminosity but noises emerging from the kitchen interrupted her thoughts. She furrowed her brows in annoyance but sighed taking this as a sign that she needed a tea break. Rey got up from her chair and made her way over to the kitchen, whoever was in there might not have been able to sleep. She placed her bet on Chewie, the Scandinavian man was also pulling an all-nighter as he and Han were on the verge of some genius invention. 

However, it was not Chewie who was in the kitchen. Rather it was her partner in all things space, Ben. He looked to be busy making some hot beverage and was pouring them into a flask. Rey made her way over to him and got a whiff of mocha. 

“What are you doing?” she whispered to him, not wanting to wake up the other inhabitants.

Ben looked over his shoulder to reply to her, “Making some mocha”, he whispered back then resumed his task of twisting the cap into place and attaching travel sized cups to the container.

Rey quirked an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms, “That still doesn’t answer my question” she said.

Ben turned around and with the flask securely in his hand and said “You have been so engrossed in your project that you forgot what tonight is”,

Rey was puzzled and racked through her brain to think of what it was but she was muddled by the lack of sleep that she couldn't think of it. Ben decided to help her by taking her hand in his and next thing Rey knew she was bundled up in a warm coat and leaving the house.

“Well tonight, my dear Rey, is when you can finally see the Jakku star”, declared Ben which got Rey to immediately perk up to attention.

Kriff, how could she forget about the Jakku star. Its visibility has been forecasted well in advance and she forgot about it because of her project deadline and research. 

Soon she found herself being led towards the lake dock where the Falcon was moored. On the deck she could see a telescope, warm blankets and other things necessary for night gazing.

‘Ben must have been prepared all of this’ she thought in appreciation ‘when did this happen...oh yeah I was busy looking at decimals and lightyears to notice what was happening in the house’.

The two of them hopped on board. It would be too cold to stay on deck as the yacht moved so Rey went with Ben into the cabin where she could watch him expertly steer the ship towards the centre of the lake. Once the yacht was anchored they moved towards the deck. It was certainly cold but thankfully it was a peaceful night and the valley sheltered the lake from any strong winds. Both of them stood and craned their neck to look at the night sky, with the naked eye Rey was able to make out the orangey red light of the elusive star.

Ever since she read up about it from dusty library books, she had been advocating for the importance of distant stars like Jakku on the topic of galactic energy. However, the star’s reputation on being elusive is caused by being hardly seen with the naked eye and even with telescopes. It can only be seen sporadically every couple of years. Tonight Rey felt lucky to see if for herself. 

Rey moved towards the telescope to see a better perspective while Ben rummaged through the picnic basket. Thankfully his mother’s fresh scones were still warm in its packaging. How she did that Ben will never know, perhaps it's one of those elusive motherly qualities she possesses. He placed the warm scones in a paper napkin and poured some hot mocha into the travel mugs. With one hand carrying two scones and the other holding a hot beverage, he nudged Rey’s shoulder with his knee to get her attention. 

Rey turned to him after admiring the star and gave him a pleased smile upon seeing what he was holding. Her hands were beginning to get cold and anything warm was welcomed. She took her portion from Ben and both of them sat on reclining deck chairs. Once settled down Ben conjured up a thick blanket to drape over their knees for warmth.

Both sat in a companionable silence.

Both munching and sipping their food.

Both admiring the stars that drew them to each other.

“I never thought I would end up here” said Rey after awhile. 

Ben glanced at her before resuming to look at the stars, “Neither did I” he said.

Ben knew what she meant. He knew about her childhood and he remembers how they were when they first met. It took a series of events to occur for them to end up this way but even then, Ben knew that somehow the Force would find a way to always connect them to each other.

“Do you remember what happened today last year?” he asked.

Rey snorted in laughter and Ben smirked in reply, “Are you talking about when you were so stressed about Dr. Snoke?”, she asked.

“Yes I am”, he answered

“Then yes I do remember”, said Rey with a smile which turned into a wistful look “I remember that I hated seeing you stressed about it. Of course it was your work and you needed to prove and defend yourself. However, you forgot you had people fighting in your corner”

Ben hummed in agreement, “People that I took for granted in my early years, it took his betrayal for me to see it that way. It took him taking my work and parading it as his own for me to see that...that…”

“You were are not alone” said Rey completing the sentence for him, Ben turned to face her and quietly murmured “Neither were you”.

Both held each other’s gaze as both remembered that bonfire moment of last year. Rey had taken it upon herself to bring Ben out of his slump, so she urged Leia and Han to organise some get together to distract Ben. Both agreed to her suggestion and an impromptu outdoor dinner was organised. Close family and friends were invited and despite Ben being hesitant about it, as he saw it as distraction from his project, Rey’s persistence won over.

They both had sat away from the others and made their own bonfire. It was the first time they truly talked and it was the first time they realised they both felt the same way. It wasn’t some grand declaration of love that Rey grew up reading about and neither was it dynamic like Ben’s parents and grandparents.

No, it crept up between them quietly like it had always been there. Perhaps it had always been but many distractions were there that they couldn’t see anything past that. However, in that quiet moment in front of the crackling bonfire, its light finally illuminated the bond between the two of them. They became official that night and to their surprise the family and friends congratulated them. 

That night it was revealed to them about the existence of a betting pool. According to the others, they have been dancing around the topic of will-they-and -won’t-they for so long that they decided to bet on it. Padme and Han won the betting pool that night, much to their own respective spouses' displeasure. 

Upon remembering that event, Rey’s eyes widened in surprise and sat up abruptly. She knocked her empty mug to the ground as she stared at Ben incredulously.

“Two things” she said “One, how can you not remind me that today is Valentine’s day and second, I can’t believe that we are that kind of a cheesy couple”.

Ben snickered at Rey’s reaction and got up from his chair. He stood in front of Rey and held out his hand for her to take. Rey accepted the gesture and was smoothly pulled up from her sitting position into a waltzing one.

Ben leaned his face closer to Rey’s and replied “One, I know that this time you are stressed about your project. I didn’t want to distract you earlier.Second, at least we aren’t as cheesy as my grandparents”

Rey laughed when she heard that, as far as she knew Padme and Anakin Skywalker were infamous in society for constantly renewing their vows to each other. Yes, it was cheesy but deep down Rey was a sucker for those kinds of things. She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard one of her favorite songs and found that she was being led by Ben into a simple box step dance. 

Ben could feel Rey’s smile on his chest as he slowly sung ‘Fly me to the moon’ to her. When the song finished he sung it again as the atmosphere was peaceful and their only audience was the galaxy above them. Ben closed his eyes as he danced with Rey and he could see why it was Rey’s and his parents favourite song. 

For Rey, it was because it helped her feel not alone.

For his parents, it was the song that played on their first date.

And now for him it was perfectly describing him and Rey.

As the song was winding down, Rey slowly opened her eyes and peered whatever she could over Ben’s shoulder towards the night’s sky. She didn’t want to break this peaceful romantic moment however a sight before her made her gasp out loud. 

“Look Ben” she whispered in awe. Ben looked at her quizzically before following her gaze and he in turn sucked in a breath of surprise. Just beside the Jakku star was the bluey green Aldeeran star. The Aldeeran star,compared to the Jakku, wasn’t as elusive but rather seasonal. It was mostly seen during winter and spring. Thus to Ben they were fortunate to see the two stars so close to each other. Both admired the stars and-

“Wait did you see that?”, asked Rey with a puzzled tone to her voice.

“I think so”, replied Ben equally stumped,

“There, there it is again”,said Rey excitedly,

And when it happened for the third time both knew what they were seeing.

Between the two stars was a third, it’s colour was purple. They turned to each other excitedly and said at the same time,

“I bet Professor Luke is in shock right now”

“I bet Uncle Luke is in shock right now”

Rey laughed and Ben shook his head. Both of them at some point had the same thesis supervisor and that was Professor Luke Skywalker. During their own respective time with the man they knew that Professor Skywalker’s life mission was to see,measure and write about the elusive purple star. The last time it was recorded was long in the past by the renowned Yoda from the east. 

Then a yawn caught Ben’s attention, Rey was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. He smiled gently at her “Wanna go to bed?”, he asked.

Rey nodded and Ben assented to her request. He made his way over back to the cabin however he was stopped by a tug on his jumper. He turned inquisitively to look at Rey.

Rey shyly smiled at him before going on her tippy toes to peck him on the lips and said “Happy Valentine’s Day”

Ben outright grinned and quickly tugged Rey towards him in order to give her a lingering kiss.

“Happy anniversary to you too”, he declared.


End file.
